1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improvement in a door checker for an automobile, comprising a case secured to one of a body and a door of the automobile, and a check plate mounted movably to extend through the case and supported on the other of the body and the door, a pair of detent members and a pair of resilient means or members or mechanisms being accommodated in the case, the detent members being mounted to come into contact with opposite sides of the check plate, the resilient means being adapted to exhibit repulsive forces to urge the detent members against the opposite sides of the cheek plate, the check plate being provided with notches in which the detent members are brought into engagement to retain the door at a predetermined medium opening degree, and with a full-opening stopper adapted to receive an outer side of the case to define an opening limit for the door.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional door checker for an automobile is already known, as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 7-101246.
In the known door checker for the automobile, in order to reliably retain the door at the opening limit, the notches are defined on the opposite sides of the check plate, so that the detent members are brought into engagement in the notches, when the door reaches the opening limit.
In such a structure, however, the door-opening load is decreased quickly by reason of that the detent members are dropped into the notches just before the opening limit for the door and hence, there is a tendency that the door is opened quickly to the opening limit against the user""s wish, whereby the door may be brought into contact with another object. Especially, such tendency is marked, when the door""s own weight is applied in the direction to open the door as the door is opened to the opening limit, due to the attitude and the like of the door mounted to the body.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a door checker for an automobile, wherein the door-opening load is prevented from being changed quickly during movement of the door from a predetermined medium opening degree to the opening limit, whereby the door can be prevented from being opened quickly against the user""s wish.
To achieve the above object, according to a first feature of the present invention, there is provided a door checker for an automobile, comprising a case secured to one of a body and a door of the automobile, and a check plate mounted movably to extend through the case and supported on the other of the body and the door, a pair of detent members and resilient means being accommodated in the case, the detent members being mounted to come into contact with opposite sides of the check plate, the resilient means being adapted to exhibit repulsive forces to urge the detent members against the opposite sides of the check plate, the check plate being provided with notches in which the detent members are brought into engagement to retain the door at a predetermined medium opening degree, and with a full-opening stopper means adapted to receive an outer side of the case to define an opening limit for the door, wherein a section of each of the opposite sides of the check plate, where each of the detent members is moved from the medium opening degree to the opening limit for the door, is formed as a continuous surface having no unevenness.
With such arrangement of the first feature, the section of each of the opposite sides of the check plate, where each of the detent members is moved from the medium opening degree to the opening limit for the door, is formed as the continuous surface having no unevenness. Therefore, it is possible to suppress any sudden or quick change in door-opening load during movement of the door from the medium opening degree to the opening limit, thereby preventing the quick opening of the door to the opening limit against a user""s wish.
According to a second feature of the present invention, in addition to the first feature, the continuous surfaces are formed as slants rising toward the opening limit for the door.
With such arrangement of the second feature, as the door is opened from the medium opening degree toward the opening limit, the detent members are moved up the slants of the check plate, whereby repulsive forces of the resilient means are gradually increased to gradually increase the frictional forces between the slants and the detent members. As a result, it is possible to suppress the natural opening tendency of the door due to its own weight as the door approaches the opening limit.
According to a third feature of the present invention, in addition to the second feature, the slants are formed to generate frictional forces between the slants and the detent members for retaining the door at the opening limit.
With such arrangement of the third feature, it is possible to prevent the voluntary movement of the door which is in a fully opened state due to an external force equal to or smaller than a given value such as wind pressure and the like.
The resilient means, the notches and the slants correspond to rubber springs 17, second notches 11 and second slants 22 respectively in an embodiment of the present invention which will be described hereinbelow.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiment taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.